By declaring such a day, the govt. would "rise above" the pliticas of it all--sure, they dance in the streets at the news of our dead--and, although our responses to their civilian dead are not so "public," most of in our hearts assume that "their" civilian dead were in fact terrorists, or jihadists, whether they were or not (I admit, that I often feel that way)----so, be that as may, the author is making a dignified and significant suggestion --

Again we are called to a higher standard than anyone else on the planet. Do the Americans mourn the German war dead of WWI & II? Does anyone mourn for enemy casualties? More to the point, do any Arabs mourn for our war dead or even victims of terror attacks? While we must never rejoice in anyone's death, it is very inappropriate to include anyone except our own victims in official ceremonies.

Oh boy, give me the barf bag. I cannot believe that this man is a 'celebrated' writer in Israel. He is so enamored with (im)moral relativism he will soon be calling for compassion for the Nazi's pain.

The examples you mention are quite different they involve enemies who live in different countries. Here you're talking about enemies who live in the same land, and where both claim to be "indigenous". If Israeli arabs are to "feel" Israeli or, dare I say, Jews to feel "palistinian" such joint memorials of the shared tragedy of the two "indigenous" peoples of this country is essential. This is more like a civil war and healing is what is needed.

what a dumb idea.. you idiots ,liberal bleeding hearts have no mercy and pitty for your own people ,that you have to go out your way to think how be "moral" towards the enemy??? this is a brutal , merciless enemy that would gladly salughter you first... if you give them the opportunity!

It IS your moral obligation to be bigger. Open your eyes! Your are also hatebreeders.

Why don't you visit your local war veterans organization and tell them that this Memorial Day, Germans and Japanese should be honored together with the U.S. war dead of World War II. Tell them that it is their moral obligation. And call them hatebreeders, that is sure to get your point across.

FOR PAST & FUTURE INSURRECTIONS & TERRORISM & FOR MONETARY COMPENSATION FOR THEIR EVIL DEED. MOSHE

The US doesn’t occupy Japanese land and scattered settlement all over Nor did it occupy German land and scatter settlements there either. You on the other hand have an obligation to the natives of the land you call yours. They are living among you still today, do you not see them?? Look out the window. You simply came planted the israeli flag on the heads of the natives living there with no regard to their rights, life, land or freedoms. Ignoring them wont make them go away. Maybe my mourning together you can both be pushed away from war and come together in tolerance.

Maybe we should hold memorial services for innocent German civilians killed in WW2 on Yom Hashoah. Come on now. All they need to do to prevent war is to stop terrorism. The world needs to realize that this conflict is not about a few sq meters of land, but about the inability of Islam to accept Jews in control of their own country, and not subservient to Muslims.

Why NOT recognize the dead Palestinians killed by Hamas as human shields. Recognize the Lebanese children, whose schools and homes were used as rocket bases and perished... The Lebanese whose roads and bridges were taken over by terrorists and destroyed. Recognize them, AND recognize that they are victims of the TERRORISTS and NOT Israel.

The enemy loves death, as he tells us repeatedly. We Jews love life. The only pain the enemy feels is that he has not killed enough of us. Sorry, I, for one, won't "identify" with that particular pain. Indeed, while the Pals are easy to dehumanize (after all, they have made themselves inhuman), the enemy cannot be fought effectively if we humanize him.

... then you are being foolish. First, the US took ... the US by force. I don't regret it or apologize for it, but it's true. Jews, in contrast, have always lived in the Middle East, and especially in the area of modern day Israel. They are MORE NATIVE to Israel than we are to the US. Second, Israel's borders (from the Med. to the Jordan R.) were established by so-called binding international law. You don't like it? Tough. Arabs being Arabs, they waged jihad and lost, repeatedly. Germany lost land it seized from Poland forever when it lost WW2. Tough luck. Jews are under no "obligation" to nurture, protect, or celebrate a hostile and traitorous population within or certainly across the Green Line. No Western country has yet been able to absorb a large percentage of Muslims without terrorism and other problems. Anyone with a background in statistics or even plan common sense should know that the key variable has nothing to do with Israel.

when the arabs in jenin or gaza stop having parties to celebrate suicide bombings, there will be something to talk about. not before.

I guess you would have also have wanted a joint German Jewish memorial day for WWII

A leftist degenerate piece written by a leftist degenerate author.

i agree Israel should do this based on the understanding that b'tzelem elokhim applies to every human being. Nevertheless as the other side celebrates deliberate murder of civilians including itsr own children to carry out murders that include the death of Arab children on purpose. we must understand that, until that practice ends, nothing Israel does with its memorial will advance peace

I love these comments from self-righteous Americans who know nothing about their own history. All of the US sits on land that belonged to the Native Americans. Part of it was also seized from Mexico and Spain during wars. Much of the South was built buy African slave who were kidnapped from their homes. Why don't you compensate their descendants?

to protest the fact that we have not had governments without the guts to destroy the enemy. They should learn that each terror attack in Israel,on Israeli Jewish interests or Jews any place in the world will result in massive palestinian deaths and injuries.

Israel has a moral obligation to minimize civilian suffering amongst Palestinians while fighting terror from their society and of compensating the accidental victims. To mourn for their dead is merely PR. We fail to do that for our own victims of Arab terror, especially if they are labeled "settlers" . We can't fight Arab terror and ever succeed in having the Arabs love us, but if we keep track of our obligations then we have nothing to be ashamed of.

Our author states that we should "identify with the pain of our enemy's civilian bereavement..." Although I do not rejoice when any human being is killed, I am not sure I can "identify" with my enemy's pain either. Afterall, did he not want to kill me first? I rejoice that I survived; but to "identify" with his pain? If he wants me to "identify" with his pain, let him come to peaceful terms with me first, lay down his arms and teach his children to have love and respect for all humanity, including Jews. How can I "identify" with someone who promotes violence and terrorism and murder? Our author makes the moral mistake of equating our just cause for peaceful Jewish survival and residence in our Jewish homeland with the aggressive and bloody campaign of our Arab neighbors to eradicate us and delegitimize our presence here. We have no intention of "throwing them into the sea" as they do with us. Nothing would give us greater satisfaction then to live in peace with all our neighbors.

No to everything with Arabs. The Land belongs to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob......not of "Esau".

Why do we remember our military? Because they had died? No. We remember them because they gave their lives, often young lives, so that the rest of us could live. They had died for us -- the ultimate sacrifice. This is different from somebody being struck why crossing the street, or being on the bus. When we send our young to fight, die and kill for us, the least we can do for them is remember and honor their sacrifice and heroism. That does not mean that civilian victims need be forgotten, but don't mix the two together, and certainly, don’t insult the memory and sacrifice of the soldiers by putting them on the par with the enemy.

Respect and fear'll be enough. You obligations are at home.

and on the Holocaust Memorial Day remember German dead? Why shouldn't the SS-man's wife killed in Allied bombing be remembered together with the murdered Jews? Why not collectively honor her as well, and all those German infants killed. Outrageous? Of cause. But it is not different really from what the author proposes, which is commemorating the dead of the enemy who wants you dead, and is doing his level best to achieve that goal (although their abilities so far fall short of German.)

The Palestinians do suffer, deservedly so in most cases but they still do suffer, and we must never forget that. The suffering of the Palestinians, though inflicted by us in self-defense and sometimes not by us at all, is still the result of our existence, and the question that the author asks himself (and so does the rest of the Israeli left) is "does my country have a right to exist if its existence causes others to suffer?" His answer to that question is "no", which is an okay answer so long as he doesn't force it on the rest of us, because if the Jewish State is destroyed, then all the suffering of the Palestinians will be brought down ten-fold and completely undeservedly upon the Jews, and unlike the suffering of the Palestinians for which the author and his liberal friends (despite their vehement objections) are not to blame, the blame for the suffering of the Jews caused by Israel's destruction will rest almost solely on their shoulders (as does the suffering today of civilians living under rocket fire and of soldiers sent into battle with their hands tied behind their backs.

no wonder the country is going to implode from within and from diaspora pressures when ignorant, ill-mannered, ill-educated people like the writer of #3 feel that they have the intellectual base from which to call a respected author expressing his opnion "An [sic] deluded fool.. oh boy give me the barf bag." Many times in the past I remember your ignorant posts, but to claim that AB Yehoshua will soon be "calling for compassion for the Nazi's [sic] pain" sinks beneath her usual level of crass and ugly narcicissism.

ABY *is* a fool. With his way-left buddies he laid the groundwork for Arafat's return to Israel, and for everything that entailed. History is full of literary men who were fools outside their area. Indeed, it is foolish for writers to pontificate in areas well outside their competence. You are right, though, that ABY will never call for compassion for Nazis, as the Holocaust is the basis of his secular religion and must therefore be preserved.